


Before Hornets

by treedunked



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: First Meetings, Other, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-16 05:41:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17543765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treedunked/pseuds/treedunked
Summary: Jake goes boarding when it’s nearly a blizzard and meets his future bestie and even more distant ex-BFF.Might become a series of drabbles leading up to the establishment of the Hornets.





	1. Chapter 1

   Thick sheets of snow covered the ski lodge at the base of Kepler, and while the flurry of white would deter most other patrons from trying one of the more difficult hills, Jake Coolice stands in a colorful snowboarding coat. The wind whips his blonde hair, roots of brown mostly covered by the neon cap on his head. The fresh snow on the ground crunches with each step he takes up the hill, and the nip of the cold instills him with motivation. He couldn’t convince anyone at the Lodge to come out with him due to the current weather conditions, even though he assured everyone he attempted to persuade that they would “ Only go on the easy trails— blue circle should be pretty easy even though the weather’s kinda gnarly… “ Yet despite his assertion, it brought no one closer to riding the slopes with him. It was a real bummer, but it didn’t shake the itch he had to go boarding. 

Once he got to the top of the Bone Mulcher he was greeted by the back of another snowboarder. Long dark hair whipped in the wind, one hand firmly on a sleek snowboard. The backdrop of the board was black, but it had purple mountains that faded from a light lilac to a deep purple. The moon hung silver in the sky above the mountains, and as Jake’s eyes followed the slopes to their base he noticed the silhouetted trees becoming darker until shifting into a blue for the last thicket of trees. The image was cut off with a thick purple diagonal streak and then a tinier teal strip. Their coat was black with white stripes on the arms, and as they turned to face the sound of crunching snow Jake recognized sharp tan features and a mouth hidden by a black neoprene mask. Their gloved fingers hooked behind the rubbery material to pull down the mask, and the somewhat intimidating air they produced was downplayed by a welcoming smile. 

Jake honestly wasn’t expecting to see anyone at the top of the hill, and he made a cursory glance at the snow which he truthfully hadn’t paid much mind until that moment. There he saw light indents from boots, but he assumed that they were all but covered up by the snowstorm. He snapped out of this train of thought when he realized the rudeness of just standing with his face to the ground. Not being one to stay strangers for too long, he gave a bright toothy grin to the other snowboarder and closed the space between them till they were a casual distance apart. “ Hey dude, I’m gonna be honest I wasn’t expecting anyone else here at this weather— you must be wicked hungry for some good old boarding too, right? I’m Jake Coolice. “ He didn’t see any problems with introducing himself fully, where most Slyphs were cagey about handing over their identities, but he had a good feeling about this boarder. They had to be cool if they were willing to ride the Bone Mulcher in this climate. 

“ Jake Coolice, huh…? “ The stranger bit down on their lower lip, as if trying to prevent a small giggle from breaking through. Jake was used to the funny reactions his name got, but he couldn’t help but particularly enjoy the way it made this stranger’s eyes smile and exposed the apples of their cheeks. He liked that about his human name, nothing wrong with making someone laugh as long as you can laugh along. “ Yeah, pretty rad right? I mean, how suiting! “ He announced with the same chill happiness, brandishing his board for emphasis. Now the taller figure calmed a bit, and extended a gloved hand in the form of a fist bump. “ Name’s Hollis. Nice to meet you, Jake. “ Jake met the fist bump with his own gloved knuckles, fists bumping off of one another with a satisfying thud. 

“ Nice board! “ Jake complimented, having held in the compliment since he had saw the shiny board from over the hilltop. He noted that it looked recently waxed, “ Good to see a fellow board specialist. “ Hollis seemed pleased with being referred to as a specialist. “ Yeah, polished it this morning before I head out. I like your board too, really completes your aesthetic. “ Hollis commented, eyes flirting over the colorful board. It had a nice zigzag through with a yellow to orange fade up against a pinkish red backdrop. The absent thought that there boards would look really cool together crossed Jake’s mind, but he didn’t vocalize this. “ Ah man thanks! I love this thing… I actually waxed it down at the Lodge before heading up as well. “ Jake meant the Amnesty Lodge, not the Ski Lodge, But Hollis didn’t seem to press which one it was.

They walked over to the edge of hill together, glancing down at the treacherous path below. Jake was practically bubbling with excitement, and glancing at Hollis he could see this determined look in their eyes. “ Want to see who can get to the bottom fastest? “ Hollis challenged the athlete, a playful light to their features. The challenge excited Jake, but he couldn’t help but be the slightest bit worried about Hollis due to the weather conditions. If they wiped out because of the snowstorm, Jake would feel awful! Yet he found himself struggling to say no to their grin. “ Alright, I can dig that. Uh… “ Then he shuffles his feet, and attempts to sound confident. “ Last one to the bottom buys lunch? “ Hollis nodded. “ You got it— we can eat at the Wolf Ember Grill— I heard they have killer soup. “


	2. Blueberry Tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hollis and Jake chill out with some tea. They talk about forming a group for rad stunts in Kepler, and about how they feel about a new snowboarder in town they had recently met.

In the tiny town of Kepler, there were three places were Jake Coolice felt positively at home. The first place was the Amnesty Lodge, a warm, comforting place with people of his own kind where he could always settle down for a warm meal and find an ear to ramble about his most recent boarding adventure. Then there was wherever he was able to board, his favorite spot becoming ski lodge where he had met Hollis, and now frequented more with his new companion. Thirdly, and perhaps the most pleasantly surprising was the home of Hollis themselves, where he was welcomed into the apartment like he was meant to be there, like Hollis’s home was also his.

Now he sat in the comfortable apartment on a second-hand couch, the second-hand nature disguised by a cozy blanket being draped over its expanse. In the kitchenette, Hollis was making the both of them some tea, a beverage which surprised Jake at first when he was offered it. He had pinned Hollis as more of a coffee person but was surprised to find that the other athlete had actually a variety of teas reserved for whenever company came over or whenever they had the desire to just sit down and have some tea. After Jake had mentioned his love of fruit teas, he noticed that every time he paid Hollis a visit he would always have some sort of fruity flavored tea ready about fifteen minutes after the two of them had hung up their coats from returning to the apartment from a day’s worth of boarding.

As Jake was thinking about Hollis and their tea habits, he heard the familiar fall of footsteps and saw Hollis make their way into the living room. They had two mismatched mugs in hand, one bearing the logo of the local vape store ( Jake vaguely remembered the mugs being super cheap during a town fair to promote the vape store ) and the other a simple red mug with some slightly peeling white text. Hollis sat the red mug in front of Jake and sat beside him on the couch, their thighs gently touching as Hollis took a sip from their mug. “ Hey, thanks! ” Jake thanked them and took the mug into his hands, blowing on the liquid hard so that the tea inside rippled from the blow. Truthfully, Jake wasn’t very crazy about hot drinks. He preferred them being much colder but didn’t want to discourage Hollis’s hospitality. Hollis watched him blow into the mug with a small smile and continued to drink their own tea in comfortable silence.

Jake was sipping his tea when he felt Hollis curl into him a bit more, comfortable with being closer to him. He held his mug in his hand with a soft smile, wondering when the last time he had felt at peace being so close with someone. It was nice just being close with Hollis, who had accepted him for all his strange habits. Whenever Jake would do something that was uncanny for a human, like walk out into the cold with little layers on- one day he was so excited to go boarding he had simply forgotten to put on his coat, and he had only noticed when Hollis had pointed out he was still wearing his t-shirt on- Hollis would call him “hardcore” and then offer him their coat. Unfortunately, Jake hadn’t ended up returning the coat. It remained at his room in the Lodge. He really had meant to return it, but he really just found himself wearing it around the Lodge instead. Hollis hadn’t mentioned it save for a few jokes, so it probably wasn’t too big of a deal.

“ Hey, Jake- what did you think of that Keith guy we met the other day? He was pretty cool, right? ” Hollis asked curiously, breaking Jake from his thoughts. “ Maybe we can invite him over to go boarding with us sometimes? With a little work, he could totally be stunting like you and me in no time… ” The mention of Keith’s name produced an image of the boy in Jake’s head, his mid-length wavy hair and his dark eyes. When Hollis and Jake had met him in the Lodge, he was sitting at a table by himself, wearing a thick coat and a black and yellow scarf wound around his neck. Jake noticed his snowboard and ushered Hollis over to introduce themselves to him, and they had really hit it off. After the three of them had lunch they went back to the trails and did some cool stunts. “ Yeah, he was pretty cool. He was pretty cool with kickflips, and he only fell on his face once and I think that was because of a rock… ” Jake adjusted himself to get a better look at Hollis, greeted by their met gaze and smile. “ You know, it’d be really cool to have a group dedicated to cool stunts… maybe we could find more people to join. Would anyone at your place be interested in something like that? Huh, it probably needs a name... “

“ Uh let’s see, well, we’re doing stunts… and we’re in Kepler, so maybe the Kepler Stunt Club? Or something like that- ” With the introduction of the name, Hollis lit up. Their dark eyes were illuminated by the overhead lights, and their lips tugged into a grin. Jake sometimes found himself distracted by Hollis’s grin because the way that their canines were curved always made their teeth look sharper than they really were. It was unique, and Jake really liked that about them. “ That’s a good name! Yeah, simple but good, yeah I like that. The Kepler Stunt Club! ” 

**Author's Note:**

> psst... send me fic requests @ aubreylittlee at tumblr


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